


Smile

by HaleHole (SweetFanfics)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Teasing, standard Kate warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 05:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/HaleHole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quick history of Derek Hale's smiles - From grins to big smiles to secretive ones to none and eventually, back to the start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile

**Author's Note:**

> I think this story was based on this headcanon I have about Derek that, when he was younger, he'd laugh and smile a lot. Like, he'd be the first to laugh at a joke and always be smiling at one thing or another. But then Kate happened and everything just went to shit and he stopped laughing/smiling.

Derek couldn’t remember how old he was at the time but he does very clearly remember the teasing. He remembers being small, the second youngest in the family, possibly 6 or 7 years old. More than that, he remembers the way his older brother and cousin had brayed with laughter when Laura had teased him.  
  


"Rabbit teeth!" had been the start of that ball that wound up turning into an avalanche of less than kind nicknames stemming from his slightly over sized front teeth. There had been ‘Buck teeth’ had been another, not to mention ‘Bugs Bunny’, ‘Chompers’, ‘Bunny’, ‘Beaver’, ‘Bucky'.  
  


Along with the nicknames came Laura and Max’s solemn discussions about the existence of were-rabbits and how Derek’s first transformation wasn’t going to be into a werewolf but rather, his teeth would grow even more, along with his ears and he’d go looking for carrots in the woods.  
  


Their mother had been less than pleased once she’d tracked down them down, following the sound of Derek's less than happy wail that he'd had let out at that information. (It was one of the brighter moments in his life at that point when his mother had given him the last ice cream bar before soothing away his fears and moved on to scold his siblings.)  
  


But even their mother’s intervention couldn’t and hadn’t stopped the teasing about his teeth. Thankfully, it hadn’t lasted long (children are children and their attention wanders away to newer, brighter things, even if they happened to be 10 and 13 respectively) but the damage had been done.  
  


Derek was always more than a little self conscious about his front teeth from that point on. The little growing into a lot as time passed by and one of his older siblings would tease ‘Bugs’ to ‘Be a good rabbit and eat all your carrots’.  
  


So his smiles went from big toothy grins to broad smiles that would make his cheeks hurt sometimes. Come puberty and all the hormones that came with it, Derek become more prone to frowning instead of smiling (something that made his mother tut and fret in equal parts, commenting every so often that she missed her little boy who would smile and laugh so much).  
  


The desire to smile had returned in the start of highschool once Kate Argent had directed her affections his way. Not the big happy smiles but smaller, secretive ones that made Max roll his eyes and drawl about ‘puppy love’ on the dinner table.  
  


Less than three months after having met Kate, the desire to smile and laugh died a bitter death. It crumpled into itself, shrinking smaller and smaller as the smoke plume rose higher and higher until there was nothing left behind. Nothing except the bitter taste of ashen guilt on his tongue, smoke in his nose and Kate’s clear laugh ~~teasing~~ taunting him for being such a good boy.  
  


There wasn’t much to smile about after that. Nothing more than tiny half smiles that showed how tired he was but appreciative of Laura’s efforts to make their life as normal as possible. Go figure that it was during that time that he most missed being teased by his sister ( _only sister only family his alpha his pack_ ). But the Laura of now wasn’t the Laura of then. Meaning that he’d finally gotten his wish, even if it was several years too late.  
  


What happened next was… Derek didn’t want to think about it. Tried not to think too hard about that year and a half where he felt that every day was walking over a path of broken rocks while being shot at from all directions. Which wasn’t entirely too inaccurate of a comparison he supposed. The point being that it was one hell of a shitty time in his already seriously crappy life and he really hadn’t gotten many or any genuine reasons to smile at someone.  
  


It wasn’t until later, way later, after dealing with kanima’s, deranged hunters, even crazier alpha’s and one doting father’s extremely stern lecture about not harming even a single hair on his son’s head or else risk eating bullets, that Derek got his reason.  
  


It had started out with an exasperated but fond twist of his lips, eyes rolling up to the heavens to complete the motion. Which grew into small smiles that showed when he was tired, happy and willing to believe for a moment that everything was going to okay. It was an eventual process that crept up in him, cautious and devious but growing as the peaceful times continued.  
  


Even though he kept waiting for the sound of the other shoe to drop (because his life was just that and no matter what Stiles said, it wasn’t paranoia if there was emperical evidence to prove that his life was basically an actual series of unfortunately _shitty_  events), the desire to relax and smile only grew. Grew and grew until one day he realized that his cheeks were starting to hurt a little as he tried to hold himself back from grinning as he watched Stiles pace and talk to himself about how he was going to give the trespassing faeries a good talking too for ‘hitting on my boyfriend in front of me because that shit is just  _rude!_ ’  
  


 _That_ had been a rude reminder in many ways, the most annoying of them being the memory of his sibling’s teasing voices ringing in his ears. Forget the fact that he had clearly relaxed too much and something was going go to go so  _horribly_ wrong  **soon** _,_ Derek was more preoccupied with the thought of Stiles teasing him over his damned  _teeth_. Not that he didn’t already crack jokes about everything else under the sky but this was different!  
  


So he went back to being 6 or 7 years old and trying not to show his slight rabbit teeth when he smiled or laughed. So what if he covered his mouth every time he smiled too broadly anyways? It was only polite and good manners to do so.  
  


But Stiles had this quality to him where he crept past his defences without Derek noticing. It was an endearing-annoying characteristic that Derek was well accquainted with and often tended to forget about. It was also the characteristic that Derek blamed when Stiles made a random quip that made him laugh.A full out throaty chuckle that made Derek cover his eyes and shake his head as he laughed. His brain repeated the joke and delivery, making his body shake a little harder and moisture tease the corner of his eyes. With a long inhale and exhale, Derek finally lowered his hand and shook his head at Stiles.

 

Who was staring at him with wide eyes brimming with awe and glee, just a little pale and flushed as he whispered, “You laughed."  
  


That made his good mood pop like a soap bubble.  _‘Here it comes.’_  Derek told himself, bracing himself when Stiles opened his mouth to speak. Here came one comment or another about rabbits and teeth or something else that was supposed to incredibly witty.  
  


He tried not to flinch when Stiles’ hand came to rest on his shoulder, shyly moving up to stroke the underside of his clenched jaw. “Holy  _shit._ Your  _smile._ You should grin more often." Stiles’ quiet words made Derek frown at the TV screen before looking back at his boyfriend. “Like, _all_ the time. Or at least smile all the fucking time."  
  


"I smile." Derek couldn’t stop himself from replying peevishly, wanting Stiles to change the subject. Maybe if he could coax the teenager into a light argument then he could forget about his smiling habits.   
  


But Stiles was nothing if not determined. He gave Derek a look that said, ‘I see what you’re trying and I’m not gonna play’ before sliding his fingers further up to trace Derek’s lips. “Not like that." Derek’s eyes flitted over towards the doorway, hoping that the Sheriff wouldn’t pick that exact moment to show up to check on them. “You should smile like **that**   _all the time_."  
  


Stiles’ voice grew more and more enthused as he continued. “Seriously!  _All_ the time! You look like you’re made of sunshine or something when you grin like that!" Derek felt more than bewildered when Stiles’ fingers poked his cheeks and the conversation turned down pathways that he hadn’t expected. “Or maybe you shouldn’t. Accidents could be caused by that laugh and grin combination. People who see it might actually walk into walls. You could be a walking hazard. Traffic accident rates would go through the roof when you'd go out in public!" He blinked in confusion when Stiles pointed a finger at him and sternly told him, " _Don’t_ smile like that when in public and especially not in moving traffic." 

 

When he dissolved into mumbling to himself about maybe keeping Derek’s smile to himself, Derek asked, “That’s it?"  
  


Stiles looked up, “What’s what?"  
  


"That’s all you’re gonna say?"   
  


It was Stiles’ turn to frown, head tilting slightly as he considered Derek’s question. “Yeah?" He answered back, drawing the one word out to show his confusion. Derek stared back, one eyebrow raised high in heavy consideration before raising its twin and shaking his head with a smile. He really should have known that Stiles would defy his expectations even with this. “What did you expect me to say?" Stiles finally asked, creeping closer to Derek’s side on the couch. 

 

Dropping his hand down on top of Stiles’, Derek replied, “Nothing important."  
  


"Sounded important to me." Stiles gripped, turning his hand around so that he could link their fingers together. Derek snorted quietly, smiling a little harder this time, letting a bit of tooth show this time. “Ugh." Stiles complained with slouched shoulders, “Even your stupid grin is perfect.  _Ass._ "   
  


Derek squeezed the hand in his grip, letting the grin grow wider. “Shut up and watch the movie."

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://chaoticwaltz.tumblr.com>holla</a>)


End file.
